MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner continues to rewrite its history books this season, this time eclipsing the previous record for wins in a season with a 3-0 win over Blue Mountain Saturday night at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium to seal the 11th victory this season.
The Eagles jumped ahead when
Matheus Rodrigues found space as the Toppers tried to clear a corner delivered from
Gabriel Rokbrand out and the Brazilian read it in space and buried the chance off the bounce with his first touch as the path opened for the back post service in the 36th minute.
In the 49th minute, Blue Mountain tried to equalize with a beautiful bicycle kick that seemed destined for the bottom right corner but
Michalis Jackson came up with a highlight reel save to preserve the lead. He would make two more saves in the shutout victory.
Faulkner added to the lead when
Caio Pereira and Rodrigues linked up quickly to
Antoine Marques who scored a very similar shot to Ainsley Lockwood's winner earlier for the women's team with the left foot to the right post in the 63rd minute. It is Marques's second goal this week in the 63rd minute having scored in the same interval against UT Southern Thursday.
In the 84th, Higor França put the finishing touches on the match as
Franco Israel's corner found Hiroki Tsuda who headed towards França who volleyed it through traffic and into the back of the net. It was Tsuda's first assist to become the 16th different Eagle with an assist this season.
The Eagles sit at 11-2-1 overall and 6-2 in SSAC play. Faulkner had twice in program history hit 10 wins in the 2016 and 2017 seasons which featured a postseason victory in the total. The six wins in SSAC play is also a program record; the previous high was four.
Faulkner sits at 18 points in the SSAC table and technically in fourth at time of writing with two games remaining. Thomas's 20 points is in third as the Nighthawks have wrapped up league play. Dalton State is at 16 points in fifth with three matches to play. The Eagles need a win to guarantee a home match in the first round of the SSAC tournament. Two draws would result in a tie with Thomas which would break to the Nighthawks due to the result on the road assuming a three team tie doesn't come into play. Faulkner will finish between the three and five seeds, however as the Firehawks of UT Southern are locked into sixth and it can only tie William Carey in points and cannot surpass them.
Faulkner and #3 Dalton State will battle Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m.
